Posted on 01/30/2025 5:18:30 PM PST by george76
The air traffic controller on duty at the time of the deadly passenger plane-Black Hawk helicopter crash in Washington, DC, was doing the work of two people, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Staffing in the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,”
...
Understaffing resulted in a controller pulling double duty — overseeing helicopters while also guiding arriving and departing planes on the busy airport’s runways, the report found.
Those responsibilities are normally split between two controllers,
...
The Biden-era report also highlighted the agency’s commitment to DEI policies.
“The FAA is fully committed to ensuring equal employment opportunity while maintaining the highest safety standards as outlined in the agency’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan 2021-2025
...
The facility should have had 30 on deck, as per the goal set by the FAA and controller’s union. Shortages have caused many controllers to work 10-hour days and six-day weeks.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I’m kind of torn between incompetency, and him being given a
task that was impossible to carry out safely.
Then there’s the level of his skill-set. Could a good guy
have done it, or was he just set up.
Last evening I was hearing that this black hawk was only
doing what other BHs do all the time there. Was there a
policy screw up that was just waiting to blow up like this?
In situations like this, all unsafe policies should have
been remedied years ago. This looks like a major screw
up.
Fair enough. However, an investigation of his competence, his test scores his hire was based on, etc., needs to be done. And if he WAS doing the job of two people, that’s on Buttigieg and Biden; Trump or Duffy have not had time to put DEI firings in place yet. This doesn’t fall on them, though, of course, it did happen on their watch; kinda like the price of eggs. 🙄
"Trump is spending so much time pursuing a strategy of revenge and retribution on his political enemies that his executive-branch agencies are a shambles."
WHITE-WASH!!
Helicopter Pilot did not have their transponder on.?
And...
https://x.com/LukeKaven/status/1884858499269550590
The third one was working from home.
Exhausted, stressed-out air traffic controllers a risk to flight safety
by Diana HembreeDecember 6, 2023
Greetings, MindSite News Readers. In today’s Daily, air traffic controllers say they are so overworked and mentally exhausted that our aviation safety system is at risk. Four Black professionals in Los Angeles have created organizations that promote community and help people heal. And research finds that mental health apps, while helpful, fail to protect user data and privacy.
Air traffic controllers are exhausted, overworked and making dangerous mistakes
Air traffic controllers say they’re overworked, demoralized, and mentally exhausted to the point where one told the New York Times, “a deadly crash is inevitable.” They’re concerned that if nothing soon changes, cracks will become holes in a critical component of the nation’s aviation safety system. A primary issue is staffing shortages which are so severe that many controllers are on mandatory six-day, 10-hour work shifts, some which end just eight hours before they are to return to work. In the past two years, air traffic controllers and others have sent hundreds of complaints to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), putting unsuitable work conditions and concerns about controllers’ mental health on record. The Times investigative report is based on more than 70 interviews with current and former air traffic controllers, pilots, and federal officials, as well as federal safety reports and FAA records that the paper obtained.
The air safety problem linked to the burnout that controllers are facing cannot be overstated. A database of aviation safety issues shows one controller in Southern California who directed a plane to fly too low and wrote, “If I can make a small mistake like that, I can make a bigger one.” The error was attributed to exhaustion and working continuous overtime. And the controllers’ work is only growing. In the fiscal year that ended September 30, air traffic grew by 4 percent, as controller errors classified as “significant” rose more than 65 percent.
Overwork is also causing mental and physical health issues that some controllers are afraid to report, for fear of not receiving the medical clearances they need to stay on the job. To cope, some say they’ve turned to dangerous levels of caffeine, alcohol, and sleeping pills. Others simply retire, exacerbating the staffing shortage issue. The FAA estimates that roughly 10 percent of all controllers, or 1,400 people, will retire this year, and the National Airspace System Safety Review Team says the agency’s current hiring plan can’t replace them quickly enough. A net increase of fewer than 200 controllers is expected by 2032.
“We have recently had a heart attack, multiple panic attacks (including my own), people losing their medicals due to depression and some that just outright quit the FAA because it has gotten so bad,” one controller wrote in a confidential safety report. “Who knows how many other stress-induced physical and mental issues are happening that we don’t even know about yet. This place is breaking people. We need help. I’ll say it again, SOS!!” In support, Jennifer Homendy, the chairperson of the National Transportation Safety Board, told the Senate last month that the mental and physical pressure put upon controllers puts the nation’s air safety at risk. “We are putting the psychological stress of the entire aviation safety system on the shoulders of our ATC work force,” she said, “and this is unacceptable..
READ all at: https://mindsitenews.org/newsletter/exhausted-stressed-out-air-traffic-controllers-a-risk-to-flight-safety/
Pete is SO GAY, I can BELIEVE that picture!!
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Looks like incompetence in the agency in charge of ensuring they had been scheduling a full staff.
If the job required two for long shifts like that, they can’t assume putting one person in that job and expect things to simply work out.
There are regulations for critical jobs not to over burden staff in critical roles for a reason.
He didn’t schedule himself.
Poor guy.
To hell with them. They are not the media anymore, we are.
Great. So there were a number of screw ups involved here.
Who could have guessed...
Yeah...
So were the DEI hires working from home, instead of manning the tower?
The question now is, was the under-staffing deliberate and part of the “malicious compliance” of the “resistance”.
Yes, the media and Democrats will try to blame it on Trump but most voters will realize that Trump had nothing to do with the staffing level since he has only been in office for 10 day. His Transportation Secretary was just confirmed yesterday morning.
Any staffing issues are definitely the fault of the Biden administration’s departmental “leadership”.
The question now is, was the under-staffing deliberate and part of the “malicious compliance” of the “resistance”.
Yes, the media and Democrats will try to blame it on Trump but most voters will realize that Trump had nothing to do with the staffing level since he has only been in office for 10 day. His Transportation Secretary was just confirmed yesterday morning.
Any staffing issues are definitely the fault of the Biden administration’s departmental “leadership”.
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